Hudowalski lived in both Troy and Albany, and Paul Grondahl recently had a nice story about her legacy and what she's meant to many Adirondack hikers.

From an Adirondack Forty-Sixer bio of Hudowalski, in reference to her first hike up Mt. Marcy:

Reflecting on that trip years later she said,

"It was tough. I was on all fours sometimes. I didn't think I was going to get there. But I had to get to the top - there was some reason. God knows what it was but I had to go on. And on the top just for a fraction of a moment, the clouds lifted while I was there and I looked down and there a mile below me was Lake Tear of the Clouds, the Hudson's highest source. And you know, that did something to me. I had seen something - I felt it. I never forgot the mountain and I never forgot that trip."

From that point on she said, "I never talked about anything but mountains. I talked about them, I
wrote about them. I gave speeches about them."

Hudowalksi passed away in 2004 at the age of 98.

As Douglas Arnold, the Forty-Sixer who led the effort to name the mountain in honor of Hudowalksi, said to the Syracuse Post-Standard: "Everyone has a mentor, a coach, a parent or grandparent, friend, or teacher who influences the outcome of their life. These angels are remembered but rarely honored. Grace Hudowalksi was a mentor to thousands of people as she shared her enthusiasm for the Adirondacks with everyone."

Comments

The Adirondack Forty-Sixers
Records, 1940-2013, are held in the Manuscripts & Special Collections of the New York State Library. See http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc19467.htm
Call (518) 474-6282 to inquire on availability before visiting.

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